Equilibration reactions are understood as meaning the re-arrangement of siloxane bonds until an equilibrium is established in the arrangement of siloxane units.
Under the action of suitable catalysts, equilibrium is established between cyclic and linear alkyl- and aryl-siloxanes, in which the amount of cyclic oligomers in the case of dimethylsiloxanes is from 15 to 20%. This is described in "J. Burkhardt in Silicone-Chemie und Technologie (Silicone Chemistry and Technology), Vulkan-Verlag, Essen, 1989". Under the action of suitable catalysts, mixtures of siloxanes of different molecular weights can be equilibrated, i.e., their molecular weight distribution can be normalized.
In "The Siloxane Bond, Consultants Bureau, New York, 1978", M. G. Voronkov et al., show that acid clays consisting essentially of aluminosilicates are particularly suitable catalysts for these equilibration reactions, montmorillonites being especially suitable. This is described in "W. Noll, Chemistry and Technology of Silicones, Academic Press, Orlando, 1968".
Compared with homogeneous catalysts, these heterogeneous catalysts have the advantage that they can be removed by filtration, and hence deactivated, when the reaction has terminated. These acid clays, activated by digestion with mineral acids, are used to a large extent in the preparation of silicone oils and silicone polymers. This is described for example in "A. Tomanek, Silicone & Technik (Silicones & Technology), Hauser-Verlag, Munich, 1990" and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,437.
Montmorillonites are aluminosilicates containing alkali metals and alkaline earth metals and having a band structure of the approximate composition Al(Si.sub.2 O.sub.5)OH.
An essential disadvantage of these digested montmorillonites is their content of natural impurities, such as alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals and sulfur, which lead to contamination of the siloxane products. Consequently, odors, discolorations or chemical changes of an undesirable nature, e.g. elimination of hydrocarbons, occur in the siloxane products.
Condensation and equilibration reactions often take place simultaneously. In particular, the known acid activated clays have a strong condensing action, resulting in an unavoidable increase in the molecular weight of the siloxanes.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide heterogeneous catalysts for the equilibration of siloxanes. A further object of the present invention is to provide heterogeneous catalysts which have high equilibrating activity coupled with low condensing activity and which do not contaminate the siloxane product.